Alondra Nelson

Alondra Nelson is the Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. As a former deputy assistant to President Joe Biden, she served as the principal deputy director for science and society and the acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) from 2021 to 2023. Nelson’s work drove the Biden-Harris administration strategy to create science and technology policy that expands economic opportunity, protects civil rights, enhances security, advances equity, and ensures that innovation works for, not against, our democratic values. During her tenure, Nelson also led a team in writing the landmark Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. An acclaimed social scientist, Nelson writes and lectures widely on the intersections of science, technology, medicine, and social inequality. She is the author of several books, including The Social Life of DNA.